Secrets
by anonyreaderfan
Summary: Near the end of Season One we learned Roger was the one who discovered the lair. The only foreshadowing of this was perhaps the first time he met John and talked about having secrets. I decided to write a one shot exploring that theme. Hope it will inspire other authors to write about this subject. Would love to read someone else's take on this.


Disclaimer – The Tomorrow People is the property of the CW. No copyright infringement is intended

~ X ~

"I'm going to be borrowing John."

Jedikiah looked up from his laptop, startled out of his preoccupation with the results of his current experiment by the sound of his brother's voice. He leaned back in his chair, pushing himself away from his desk, crossing his legs. He eyed his brother for a moment before standing and motioning him to follow. The two men stood shoulder to shoulder in front of the glass window panes lining the room from floor to ceiling. Anyone passing by the office and glancing in would assume they were staring out the window at something happening on the street below. Jedikiah pushed back his suit jacket, placing his hands in his pants pockets. Roger folded his arms across his chest.

"So, it's getting close." Jedikiah's voice held somber resignation.

Roger nodded slowly while he spoke. "It's all coming to a head. I can't fob him off much longer. I'm running out of excuses. We have to move while there's still time."

"Hopefully we'll get the time we need." Jedikiah didn't have to ask who 'he' was. Their long held suspicions of Hugh Bathory's ulterior motives had been confirmed. The Founder was still ignorant of the fact that the Price brothers knew he planned the annihilation of the human species. If he discovered their knowledge, he would instantly go on the offensive.

The two men stood silent, each lost in their own thoughts. Finally Jedikiah sighed. "Get what needs to be done as quickly as possible. I'll cover your tracks."

Roger raised one of his crossed arms to cup his chin in his hand, his brow furrowed with worry lines.

"What?" Jedikiah didn't need to read minds to know when his brother was troubled. The signs were there for all to see.

"John." Roger dropped his arms, to rest his hands on his hips. "What we've done to this kid is so unfair. What we're going to do to him. What we'll be asking of him. We've manipulated him from the time you found him."

"You know we decided a long time ago that he was capable of doing what was needed. It's too late now to replace him. It's what he's been trained for. It's what I strengthened him for." Jedikiah paused for a moment. "I'll be sending him through the Annex project in two months. You have until then to put the necessary pieces in place. To polish up the plan."

"Jed." Roger made his brother's name a plea and a protest.

Jed hunched a shoulder. "I know. I'm gambling with the kid's life, but I've done everything I can do to make sure he'll live through it. I used Killian as the guinea pig."

"Killian?" Roger snorted. "You know he's insane now."

"Yes, but I know what went wrong, and I've changed the drug compound. I'll be there and modify the mix myself. John will live through it." Jedikiah spoke forcefully, with unshakeable assurance.

Roger nodded, but raised another objection. "Even if the kid lives, his life is ruined. You know that, don't you? We've raised him from a child as a sacrifice. Hell, it's like we took a puppy and hand fed it so it would have absolute trust in us. How's what we're doing right?"

Jedikiah focused on a fast moving cloud in the bright blue afternoon sky. He watched it while he spoke. "I know all this. I know what I've done."

"The boy worships you. He'll volunteer for the Annex project just to impress you."

"He worships us." Jedikiah corrected his brother. He shifted his stance slightly, pulling one hand out of his pocket to jab the air with a pointed finger, and emphasize his point. "We are fighting a war here. A war for the survival of a species. Every war has casualties. And it's usually the innocent. John is a casualty. We have to accept that." Jedikiah's voice was low but intense.

"Who are you trying to convince? Me or you?" Roger turned sideways to stare at his brother's profile. Jedikiah's grim face was set in stern lines. He noticed for the first time there were lines around his eyes that had never been there before. _This is aging him._ A silent snort. _What am I saying? This is aging me. There's gray in my beard now._ He spoke out loud. "You love that kid. I hear it when you call him son."

"I deliberately call him son to reinforce that he should look to me as an authority figure. To keep him loyal to me. It's all calculated."

Roger laughed softly. "You are such a liar. It's not just your voice. Your eyes, when you look at that kid, give you away."

Jedikiah held his face steady for a moment and then gave in, admitting, "Guess I can't fool my telepath brother." He swallowed thickly. "I know what I'm asking from him. I know that even if I don't kill him, I'll ruin his life. My only consolation in this whole mess is that I suffer with him. I feel––have felt ––every harsh thing, every painful thing that has happened to him. It's the only thing that gives me hope that I'm not a monster. The fact that I feel with him."

Roger put a comforting hand on his older brother's shoulder and squeezed gently. "You're not a monster. This is an impossible situation. I just keep thinking how relieved I am that I got my wife and children out of this mess, but I'm taking advantage of an eighteen year old. What if this was Stephen?"

The two men stared out the window. Jedikiah finally shook himself. "You're making the greatest sacrifice of all of us. What you think you can do may not work."

Roger opened his mouth, but Jedikiah, hearing the office door open, quickly spoke up. "The results will be available Monday. Look it over and tell me what you think."

"Catch you then." Roger fell in with the act and left, smiling at the agent who had come to speak to his boss.

~ X ~

Roger found John waiting for him, sitting at a small table in the restaurant he had directed him to. John was inspecting the interior of the Noodle House, and if his superior, disdainful sneer was any indication he was not impressed. The facial expression was so reminiscent of his brother that Roger laughed out loud. "Don't be such a snob, John."

John smiled ruefully. "Well, you have to admit this place is trashy. Why are we meeting here?"

"I wanted you to know about it. It's shielded. A paranormal can't be traced here. The person who built this place was one of us." Roger eyed John, trying to gauge his reaction to what he had revealed.

John, looking worried, expressed concern. "Shouldn't this be reported?"

Roger put a hand on John's shoulder. "Do you remember what I told you the day I first met you? That it's okay to have secrets. Just be careful who you share them with."

John nodded earnestly.

"I'm asking you to not share this with anyone. It's one of my secrets."

John rather reluctantly agreed. "Okay."

"And everything else today. You do not share with anyone."

John's eyes opened wide. "Not even with Jed?"

"Most especially not with Jed. This is between you and me."

John anxiously searched the older man's face before once more agreeing. Roger and John were his only real friends in the world. He trusted them.

Roger looked over John's suit, tie, and overcoat, all the time thinking he looked like a clone of his brother. He grinned. "Do you even own a pair of jeans?"

"Of course I do, but I'm working," John protested. "You know Jedikiah insists that his agents dress professional." John's words were interspersed with an involuntary 'oomph' as Roger threw a duffel bag at his chest. John's reflexes were good, and he caught it. "What's this?"

"Clothes. Where we're going you don't want to wear a suit. Get changed."

Roger waited until John came out of the men's room. He looked very different, wearing a pair of chinos, a Henley, and a black leather jacket. The boy's eyes gleamed as he ran his hands over the supple leather. "Wow, this is as soft as butter!"

He looked so young and fresh faced that Roger reached up and mussed up the carefully combed blonde hair.

"Hey, don't mess up the hair." John's protest was more of a formality than a real complaint and he quickly patted the strands back into place with one hand.

Roger smiled sadly.

"What?" John asked.

"I remember when I just had to reach out to do that." Roger used his hand to show John's height when he first met him. The thought of that distraught young boy that his brother had sent him to comfort tugged at his heart strings. Among other things it reminded him that he was missing watching his sons grow up. That he couldn't be there when they needed a father.

"Yeah, I'm as tall as Jed now." The innocent pride in the kid's voice made him steel himself against the pain of knowing he was going to destroy whatever innocence John still had. He quickly searched for something to say. "Are those boots comfortable?"

"Yeah." John stuck out a foot, admiring the new black combat boots Roger had provided. "I like em."

"Good. Cause you got a lot of walking to do." Roger pushed the duffle bag that now held John's suit, shirt, and dress shoes. "Bring that along."

They took the subway until the Fleet Street stop. John silently followed Roger off the train and down near the end of the passenger area. They waited until the train departed and the other riders exited the station. Roger darted around the flimsy gate warning passengers to proceed no further. John, casting an uneasy glance around, followed.

Twenty minutes of walking through dark greasy tunnels and John was complaining. "How much further?"

"It's about four miles altogether," Roger explained. "Are you keeping track of the route?"

"I am, but why don't we just teleport?"

"We will in the future, but I want you to know where you are."

Finally Roger announced, "Here we are."

John slowly turned in a circle. "And where would that be?"

"An abandoned subway station. One hundred feet below the streets of Manhattan. It's not on record anywhere."

"How is it not on the maps?" John met Roger's expectant look and thought quickly, answering his own question almost immediately. "You had Tim remove all mentions of it from the records."

Roger smiled. "Yup."

~ X ~

They made multiple trips to the subway station over the next month, teleporting together, bringing furniture and supplies. John was good with his hands, and Roger had him repairing and stringing new electrical wiring. He made changes in the pipes to bring water down to this level again.

"You planning on surviving World War Three down here?" John joked one time as they worked.

Roger, looking grim, answered, "You never know."

John, shocked, eyed him for a few moments as Roger concentrated on the pipe he was repairing. He finally returned his attention to his portion of the job, but he maintained a thoughtful silence. They finished up, and Roger nodded satisfied when they turned on the faucet and water gushed out with respectable pressure.

They settled into a routine, working for a couple of hours repairing items or bringing in furniture. The two of them had constructed an exercise ring, and Roger taught him a sparring game. He called it jousting, and they always finished the day with a contest. John really enjoyed these rounds. He gave the older man a run for his money, but he didn't have the muscle mass to beat him.

"You need to put a little meat on those bones," Roger teased.

There finally came a day when, as they got ready to leave, Roger said, "It looks like we're done here."

John was conflicted. He felt guilty holding something back from Jedikiah, but knew he would miss the alone time with Roger. Roger had spent a lot of time talking with John as they worked, imparting things like how to be a leader and how to be fair. When to listen to others and when to insist on his own way. Things that John didn't quite understand why he was being told, but he listened never the less.

Roger waited by the banged up clothes locker while John swapped out the clothes Roger had brought for him with his suit. As John hung up the black leather jacket, he turned to Roger. "I'm gonna miss this jacket. I really like it."

Roger smiled. "It's a good jacket, but you should leave it here."

He didn't voice it, but he was going to miss the sessions with Roger more than anything else. He had enjoyed the one on one with the older man. They had become even closer down here.

As he tightened the knot on his tie, John asked, "What's gonna happen to this place now?"

"Nothing for now," Roger said. "But I made it for you."

"For me?" John was shocked. "Why would––why for me?"

"You never know. Someday you may need to hide from the world. You may need a refuge. A safe place. Some day you may need to protect my son. I think this place and that jacket could bring you luck." Roger reached out a hand to place it on John's shoulder. "Remember. This is our secret. No one can read your mind unless you let them. My brother gave you that power. Share this with no one at Ultra. Promise me you'll keep our secret safe so if you ever need it, it will be here for you."

"I promise," John swore.

Roger briefly cupped John's chin. "You're a good kid, John." He shifted his grip back to John's shoulder and teleported them out.

~ X ~

As Roger felt his life slipping away, he sent one last thought before he stopped time and faded from the world.

_"Remember our secret!"_

~ FIN ~


End file.
